Mind Your Liberty

For this month's episode I recorded a terrific Dorothy Sayers' essay on education, called The Lost Tools of Learning. In it, she outlines a return to classical education in the modern era. I simply didn't have time to expound on it much, but the piece stands on it's own. Enjoy, and have your thoughts provoked! 
 
www.mindyourliberty.com
 
www.classicalconversations.com
 
The Lost Tools of Writing, by Dorothy Sayers - https://archive.org/details/sayers1948losttoolslearning
 

My friends Fred and Rawné Pierce discuss their family homeschooling journey, how they encountered Classical Conversations, and why they chose classical education for their family. They have a unique perspective, as they look back, now that they are about to graduate their oldest child. 
 
Mentioned resources:
A Thomas Jefferson Education - https://a.co/d/4Qd726l
https://bravebooks.us/
https://jockopodcast.com/
The Way of the Warrior Kid - https://a.co/d/dJ5Pwz2
https://classicalconversations.com/
https://www.mindyourliberty.com/
 
 

Local School Board member Kim Miller joins us to discuss her experience on the school board, and how we can stay engaged in the community as Christians, even if our kids aren't in the public school district. 
 
James Lindsay's New Discourses Bullets (Scroll down to the first episodes from last year) - https://newdiscourses.com/tag/nd-bullets/
 
The Expulsive Power of a New Affection , Thomas Chalmers, Book - https://a.co/d/03i4wHx
The Expulsive Power of a New Affection , Thomas Chalmers, PDF - https://www.monergism.com/thethreshold/sdg/Chalmers,%20Thomas%20-%20The%20Exlpulsive%20Power%20of%20a%20New%20Af.pdf
 
http://www.mindyourliberty.com
 

In this short informal episode I dust off the mic after a month's break and go over What's in a Name, Where We've been, & What's in Store for 2023.
What's in a name - Why the podcast is titled Mind Your Liberty, and what shape the podcast has taken
Where we've been - a brief look back at the podcast in 2022
What's in store for 2023 - To give you an idea of what to expect this year.
Thanks for listening! 
http://www.mindyourliberty.com
 

"The Revolution was in the minds and hearts of the people, a change in their religious sentiments of their duties and obligations” - John Adams to Hezekiah Niles, 1818
 
Have you ever wondered what was being preached in the American colonies before the revolution? Given the outstanding role that "religious sentiments" played in the pre-war psyche, we certainly should be curious what the preaching was like. Today I read though a sermon preached by Rev. Samuel Davies, way back in 1755. This sermon was given to admonish a group of volunteer militia going to defend the western territories during the French and Indian War. Listen in and hear what he had to say! There are many points to consider that are fully as applicable today as in 1755. 
 
The Constituents of A Good Soldier, full text - 
https://quod.lib.umich.edu/e/evans/N05830.0001.001/1:2?rgn=div1;view=fulltext
 
John Adams’ Letter to Hezekiah Niles - https://nationalhumanitiescenter.org/ows/seminars/revolution/Adams-Niles.pdf
 
Adams’ Letter Full Text, beta transcript - https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Adams/99-02-02-6854
 
Book where I found this sermon. - https://a.co/g7uJqLy 
 
www.mindyourliberty.com

The Stamp Act was now going into effect in Colonial America, meaning colonists of all stripes (anybody that used paper) had to make a choice - to use the comply or not to comply. John Dickinson, “the Penman of the Revolution”, wrote this broadside pamphlet to encourage his countrymen to carefully consider their course of action, and the consequences thereof. 
 
“THE Stamp Act, therefore, is to be regarded only as an EXPERIMENT OF YOUR DISPOSITION. If you quietly bend your Necks to that Yoke, you prove yourselves ready to receive any Bondage to which your Lords and Masters shall please to subject you.” [Emphasis original]
Stamp Act - https://avalon.law.yale.edu/18th_century/stamp_act_1765.asp
 
Broadside Against the Stamp Act - https://www.google.com/books/edition/The_Writings_of_John_Dickinson/DaWqy3gNcogC?hl=en&gbpv=1&pg=PA201&printsec=frontcover 
 
Other good stuff - https://americainclass.org/sources/makingrevolution/crisis/text3/stampactresponse1765.pdf 
 
http://www.mindyourliberty.com 

In this episode I read through and briefly talk about another important document from the revolutionary era, The Rights of Colonists, by Samuel Adams. This document is another one of the many you can trace the similar lines of thought from the early 1760's (and earlier) to the mid 1770's, and beyond. Adams further develops the concept of natural rights in this piece. 
 
https://teachingamericanhistory.org/document/the-rights-of-the-colonists/
 
http://www.mindyourliberty.com

What do we do when a country is being divided? When "enemies" are skewing events, blowing things out of perspective, and demonizing us? When we are being labeled as "dangerous" and "a threat"? Well, lets take a peek into a similar situation back in 1768, and see how a Boston town meeting wrote to their London agent and explained events that had been used to stoke division. Maybe there is something for us today. 
 
P.S. I know it's the 30th not the 29th. :-)
 
Letter to Dennys De Bert September 22nd - https://archive.org/details/writings01sammuoft/page/240/mode/2up
 
King George's reply to the Massachusetts Circular Letter (June 21st) - https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=mdp.39015073215843&view=1up&seq=88
 
June 10th “insurrection”. - https://www.newenglandhistoricalsociety.com/the-liberty-affair-john-hancock-loses-a-ship-and-starts-a-riot/

In this podcast episode I read through a rousing oration given by patriot Samuel Adams in Philadelphia on August 1st, 1776 American Independence. The following day, the members of congress affixed their signatures to the parchment copy of the Declaration of Independence. 
 
British paper quoted in the speech: https://classicliberal.tripod.com/price/ncl04.html
 
Text of the American Independence oration: https://tenthamendmentcenter.com/historical-documents/american-independence/
 
www.mindyourliberty.com
 

In this short episode I read through America’s favorite document, the Declaration of Independence. Most of us probably read through it in grade school, some of us have studied it since then, but I believe all of us could benefit from once again listening to these timely, intentional words.
 
Pauline Maier’s book  American Scripture: Making the Declaration of Independence.
 
Thomas Paine’s Common Sense - https://oll.libertyfund.org/page/1776-paine-common-sense-pamphlet